Integrated circuits (IC) may be used in a wide range of designs and products, some integrated circuits may include Non-Volatile Memory (NVM) arrays. An NVM array may be composed of NVM cells, ancillary circuitry, a controller and additional circuits. The ancillary circuitry may include for example: array controls, address decoding circuits and sense amplifiers (SA). SAs may be configured to determine a value/level of one or more targeted NVM cell.
NVM devices may include an NVM array. Some memory array types may include NVM arrays, floating gate arrays, charge trapping cell arrays (such as array of eCT™ cells, array of MirrorBit® cells) and more.
The NVM cells may be single bit or multi-bit storage cells and the cells may be programmable to different states, for example in a single bit configuration the cell may be programmable to either an erased (ERS) or programmed (PRG) state.
According to some embodiments, the NVM cells may be accessed through word lines (WLs), bitlines (BLs), source lines (SLs), select gates (SGs), memory gates (MGs) or otherwise. For each operational mode (Programming of cells, Erasing of cells, Reading of cells etc.) the WLs, BLs, SLs, SGs and/or MGs may be activated and operated accordingly. Operating mode, such as read algorithm, program algorithm, erase algorithm, may determine voltage or current signals applied to WLs, SLs, SGs, MGs of NVM cells. Other factors include the selected addresses, the specific technology being used. In some embodiments, the NVM arrays may include different structural features and may not include SGs, BLs, SLs, MGs and/or WLs, or otherwise.
Some other types of transistors which may also be included in associated circuitry, such as P-type metal-oxide-semiconductor transistors (Pmos), N-type metal-oxide-semiconductor transistors (Nmos), low voltage (LV) Nmos, LV Pmos, high voltage (HV) Nmos and HV Pmos, Zmos which is a low resistance Nmos or Pmos type transistor, bipolar junction transistors (BJT) and more. HV transistors/cells may be differentiated from LV transistors/cells by being designed/configured to enable operation in a higher range of voltages across their channel compared to LV cells (for example, between a drain node and a source node of the transistor) and/or across the gate (for example: between their gate and bulk or ground node). HV devices may include a thick gate oxide region compared to LV devices. FIG. 1 depicts an example split-gate eCT™ cell. Split gate device 100 includes Select Gate (SG) with a thin oxide 101 underneath. The SG may be utilized to control opening and closing of the channel 102 beneath. Device 100 further includes Memory Gate (MG) with a charge trapping layer 104 that is the used to store electrical charges representing data. The MG may be utilized to control charge trapping layer 104. As discussed above, operation of BL, SG, MG and SL may cause device 100 to be programmed, erased and/or read.